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Published: November 13th 2006
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After getting on my early morning train from Budapest (basically hoped it was heading for Slovenia as no signs were on the train and no train people seemed to speak English), we travelled through what was mainly boring farmlands. This was almost to a tee until we hit Slovenia! Gorges formed and we were travelling by the strikingly blue/green, Sava River and it only got better as the sun began to set offering a pinky orange colour pervading over the mountains.
Getting into Ljubljana, I headed to Celica Hostel, which is a converted prison and still has rooms that are cells, so effectively your living in the slammer. I got into my room, and almost at once an army of Australians also checked into this 12 bed dorm. Geelong, Adelaide, Perth, Tassie, they kept coming all at basically the same time but in different groups. So after a chat Amanda texted me to tell me she and Katie had arrived here too and were ina room nearby. I walked in and sat with them for a while, along with their friends Andrea and Nicole.
Got some dinner downstairs and I had a few drinks to carry the night through,
while we conversed about how our travels are going. Its pretty cool catching up with people you know from home in some far flung country in the world. As we discussed, who would have thought that when we were at school that in 6 years time we would be at a converted prison in Ljubljana? I probably would have said "whats a Ljubljana?"
Anyway the next day I got up early as I forgot what time we arranged to meet. Waited for the girls while having breakfast, and they came down not long after. After breakfast we headed into town and wandered some streets before coming across a market. We saw some stalls and Amanda was upset that when an attendant first talked to her, they always do so in English, obviously she stands out as a tourist, but she wants to stand out as a local instead. We also happened across a stall selling male jumpers that say "Princess", which seemed to be a growing trend when we happened to walk by a bar called "Bum Bar".
From here we decided we were going to head out to Postajna, about an hour by bus south west of
Outisde the caves
Myself, Katie and Amanda Ljubljana, to see some caves. The bus ride was interesting as a girl kept having some sort of spasm that allowed her neck to go out of position and almost allow her head to rest on her back, quite something as you travel for an hour. We got to Postajna and had a 2 hour wait before the tours of the caves begun. So we ate the lunch we had bought and wandered around. This time allowed me to just let the girls arrange what we were going to do and times leaving, which may seem like a bad thing to do, but after travelling alone for a while, I was glad to not have to sort everything out myself, and it also allowed to me to see how the girls travelled and how they dealt with the same dilemmas I have had. Like the language barrier, asking questions on where and when sort of questions, so I basically used this time to observe how they do it, and they are pretty efficient in how they do it all, impressive.
The caves had us on a train journey, that felt like a ride in Disneyland or something. Almost ducking
Train in the caves
With Katie and Amanda out of the way of the stalectites and stalecmites. Pretty hairy actually, but great views of the caves along the way, which looked almost unreal. We got out and headed for the English speaking guide getting ina few photos before about 10 minutes of walking being told not to take any photos. The caves were amazing and at every corner offered a different more stunning view. We walked the 1.7km trek through the caves, often stuk behind this elderly couple, the man was almost playing with us not to let us pass even though they walked so so so slowly! We were also told not to touch the stalectites and stalecmites as when we touch them, they will go black. This man felt it was his duty to turn every stalectite and stalecmite to black!! I almost felt obliged to just put my hand in front of his to stop him, but I eventually got past and wandered further past them, while a few of the girls got stuck and at one stage Katie alone was stuck behind them.
But back to the caves which were amazing and well worth the visit. They have taken thousands of years to
form, but unfortunately have basically stopped growing with human interaction and the lights. We saw a stalectite which was called "brilliant", due to its white colour and form, it was okay! Many looked like they had inspired the Italians in building the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We finished the tour looking at Proteus anguinus, which are otherwise known as human fish and are salamanders with no eyes, I believe this is one of the only places in the world that has them. We finished off at the grand hall, that still houses some concerts inside the caves and has amazing acoustics. We left back on the train, but not before seeing a sign which offerred up so many possibilities as to what it could mean, we came up with mostly naughty ideas.
Back out of the caves and we waited for a while for a bus back to Ljubljana, and headed back to a great sunset, helped by a hot air balloon flying overhead. Amanda and Katie fell asleep in front of me, which I used as an opportunity to film them sleeping on each other. We got back to the hostel and I bumped in Matt who I
Proteus anguinus
Otherwise known as human fish. They are eyeless salamanders. met in Budapest. He joined us for dinner and we continued to chat the night away which was very enjoyable and then the girls decided to have a little myspace party. I got a little drunk, but nobody else did!!! I went out with Matt to some clubs around the area, which looked pretty interesting and were ... I got lost on the way back, even thought it was literally just around the corner, and ended up walking around for half an hour before getting back.
Up and at 'em the next morning again I forgot what time we were supposed to meet for lunch, so up before the others. Had breakfast with all the girls and then said goodbye for the final time before seeing them back in Melbourne, and to new friends Andrea and Nicole, who are both great girls, and from there I headed off for a train to Munich.
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anonymous
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Sign tells you that you can't walk or run you have to take a little train